|
 Of those, 165 were in the northeastern province of Jilin, the
National Health Commission said in a statement. That marks the
highest daily count for the province since China contained its first
national outbreak in early 2020.
The number of new domestically-transmitted asymptomatic cases, which
China does not classify as confirmed cases, was 435, a near two-year
high.
Still, China's caseload is tiny by global standards. The country is
sticking to its "dynamic-clearing" playbook where local authorities
scramble to identify and quarantine every infection and their close
contacts quickly and impose varying degrees of curbs to cut
transmission.
In the city of Jilin, the hardest hit area in the latest flare-up in
the province, authorities are battling an outbreak where a
sub-strain of the Omicron variant has been found. Business
operations in its urban areas have been ordered to halt for a week,
with exceptions for those responsible for providing essential
services and businesses requiring continuous production.
People are not allowed out of their homes in general during March
7-13, except for urgent matters such as to seek medical services,
according to the city government. One person from each household
will be allowed out each day to shop for necessities.
Some infected university students and close contacts of infected
individuals, having been told they would be moved to other locations
for quarantine, waited on campus hours after the time they were
previously notified, according to two students at Jilin Agricultural
Science and Technology University.
"They asked us to go downstairs at around 8 am today to be moved to
other locations. (We) have not left yet," a student who came into
close contact with those infected told Reuters via online messages
in the afternoon.
[to top of second column] |
 "I'm staying at (a) school stadium. People
around me are all infected, many of them
coughing," said another student via text, who
tested positive.
The infected student, who declined to be
identified, said those who tested positive had
initially stayed in the same dormitory building
as those who were not, instead of being
quarantined in separate rooms or moved to other
buildings immediately.
Complaints about students at the university crying and not getting
help were circulating on Twitter-like platform Weibo. Reuters was
not immediately able to verify the posts.
State television reported later on Thursday that buses had arrived
at the university to pick up students who were close contacts of
infected individuals.
The head of Communist party authority at Jilin Agricultural Science
and Technology University was removed from the role, Jilin
provincial government said in a statement on Thursday, without
explaining the reason for the decision.
There were no new deaths for March 9, leaving the death toll
unchanged at 4,636.
As of March 9, mainland China had reported 112,385 cases with
confirmed symptoms since the pandemic began, including local ones
and those arriving from outside mainland.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu, Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by
Christian Schmollinger, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Emelia Sithole-Matarise
and Kim Coghill)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
